High density electrical connectors normally consist of a housing which contains a plurality of conductive elements which each provide an interconnection between the circuits of two electrical devices. Often these take the form of a linear side by side array having a longitudinal direction or width parallel to the array, a height parallel to the compressive dimension, and a length perpendicular to both.
Normally the two electrical devices are for example printed circuit boards (PCB) wherein the electrical connector is mounted on one printed circuit board. The conductive elements are each engaged to electrical traces of that circuit board. The other circuit board is to become compressively engaged to the other ends of the conductive elements. With the provision of a high density electrical connector with moveable compressive contact points, a repeatable connection between the two PCBs can be achieved.
However in some applications, the width of a connector (lateral to the direction of compressive displacement of the conductive elements during engagement) needs to be narrow in light of space constraints. For example in the application where a PCB inside a hard drive is to engage with other circuitry of a PC, the opening through the casing of the hard drive is very narrow. In order for conductive elements of an electrical connector to reach into the interior of the casing of the hard drive, the length of connector needs to be narrow to fit through the opening of the casing. Furthermore, the conductive elements of such an electrical connector, should remain substantially within the perimeter of the housing of the connector to prevent them from contacting the casing and possibly shorting out a circuit. For example with reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a sectional views through a prior electrical connector and illustrates the light hand side conductive element deflected and in compressive engagement with a PCB. The left hand side shows the conductive element in an undeflected state. It can be seen that the distance of displacement along the length (in a horizontal direction and perpendicular to the compressive direction) of the upper contact point of the conductive element is relatively large, this is referred to as the “wiping distance”. In the example shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that the conductive element at the upper contact point protrudes outside of the perimeter of the housing of the connector. To avoid this, the housing would need to be of a greater length so as to accommodate the wiping distance of the upper contact region of the conductive element.
Inherently the connector design of FIG. 1 occupies an effective space which is of a length which for certain applications is too wide.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a high density electrical connector which provides conductive elements of a narrow size (perpendicular to the compressive direction) and having a significantly reduced wiping distance over that of the prior art, or which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.